Fascism

Fascism is defined as "a political philosophy, movement, or regime that exalts nation, and often race, above the individual and that stands for a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, severe economic and social regimentation, and forcible suppression of opposition." (Merriam-Webster)

Trump's campaign began with an attack on Mexicans and mobilized under the slogan of Make America Great Again. His early moves after his inauguration hold many of the hallmarks of fascism.

After Senator Richard Blumenthal voiced support on television for continuing the investigation into Russian meddling in last year's election, and expressed concern about the Justice Department’s increased focus on rooting out administration officials who leak information damaging to Trump, the President tweeted that the Senator was "a phony Vietnam con artist," and that "he cried like a baby."washingtonpost.com(See also Unpresidential Behavior, Russian Meddling in Election)

The quasi-propaganda videos are made in Trump Tower, overseen by the president’s daughter-in-law, and using campaign cash to pay for them.

2017.08.08

The Justice Department has reversed its position in a high-profile voting case in Ohio, siding with the state in its effort to purge thousands of people from its rolls for not voting in recent elections.washingtonpost.com(See also Department of Justice, Jeff Sessions)

The move is part of a broader campaign by the Trump administration to support restrictions on who is eligible to vote, a radical change in philosophy from the previous Justice Department, which sued a number of states over voting laws that it deemed discriminatory against minorities.

U.S. prosecutors prevailed in their request to seek information about subscribers to an anti-Trump website allegedly linked to rioting during the inauguration.bloomberg.com(See also Legal Activity, Criminality)

A judge in District of Columbia Superior Court on Thursday ordered DreamHost LLC, the host of the website disruptj20.org, to comply with a government warrant seeking information about the site’s subscribers.

2017.08.27

The Trump administration Monday lifted a controversial ban on the transfer of surplus military equipment to police departments whose battlefield-style response to rioting in a St. Louis suburb three years ago prompted a halt to the program.usatoday.com(See also Domestic Policy)

The new plan takes effect immediately and fully rolls back an Obama administration executive order that blocked armored vehicles, large-caliber weapons, ammunition and other heavy equipment from being re-purposed from foreign battlefields to America's streets.

2017.08.28

Donald Trump signed an executive order rescinding former President Barack Obama's restrictions on the transfer of military-style equipment from the Department of Defense to local law enforcement agencies.politico.com(See also Department of Defense, Jeff Sessions)

The Justice Department is demanding that Facebook turn over information from three accounts that could provide access to the personal details of thousands of activists who expressed interest in anti-Trump rallies.nbcnews.com(See also Assaults on Civil Liberties)

2017.10.03

The Trump Administration launched what it called the Victims of Immigration Crime Engagement (VOICE) hotline, with a stated mission to “provide proactive, timely, adequate, and professional services to victims of crimes committed by removable aliens,” but internal logs of calls to VOICE show that hundreds of Americans seized on the hotline to lodge secret accusations against acquaintances, neighbors, or even their own family members, often to advance petty personal grievances.splinternews.com(See also Immigration)

The commission has asked state election officials to share specific voter information, voters' felony conviction history, voter history, and partial Social Security numbers, along with a host of other details.

2017.10.05

Despite the fact that only half of Puerto Ricans had access to drinking water and only 5% of the island has electricity, FEMA has removed any statistics about drinking water access and electricity in Puerto Rico from its website.washingtonpost.com(See also Assaults on Facts)

2017.10.09

A judge ordered the web hosting company DreamHost to redact identifying information about visitors to a website used to coordinate a protest during Donald Trump’s inauguration, imposing further limits on an extensive warrant obtained by the Justice Department that initially aimed to collect visitors’ IP addresses.gizmodo.com(See also Assaults on Civil Liberties, Department of Justice)

2017.10.17

Republican Senator John McCain implicitly excoriated Donald Trump's administration and supporters, saying that "to refuse the obligations of international leadership ... for the sake of some half-baked, spurious nationalism ... is as unpatriotic as an attachment to any other tired dogma of the past."buzzfeed.com(See also Nationalism)

Federal regulators rolled back decades-old rules, making it far easier for media outlets to be bought and sold — potentially leading to more newspapers, radio stations and television broadcasters being owned by just a small handful of companies.washingtonpost.com(See also Censorship, Assaults on Civil Liberties)

The Trump administration is prohibiting officials at the nation’s top public health agency from using a list of seven words or phrases — including “fetus” and “transgender” — in official documents being prepared for next year’s budget.washingtonpost.com(See also Assaults on Civil Liberties, Assaults on Facts)

Policy analysts at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta were told of the list of forbidden terms with senior CDC officials who oversee the budget, according to an analyst who took part in the 90-minute briefing. The forbidden terms are “vulnerable,” “entitlement,” “diversity,” “transgender,” “fetus,” “evidence-based” and “science-based.”

Republican U.S. Senator Jeff Flake castigated Donald Trump for his attacks on the media, saying Trump had embraced the despotic language of former Soviet dictator Josef Stalin and inspired modern-day authoritarians.reuters.com(See also Nationalism, Assaults on Civil Liberties)

George Prochnik–The New Yorker

In his Feb. 6, 2017, article, Prochnik examines Stefan Zweig's thoughts on the rise of Fascism in Germany and wonders:

how far along the scale of moral degeneration Zweig would judge America to be in its current state. We have a magnetic leader, one who lies continually and remorselessly—not pathologically but strategically, to placate his opponents, to inflame the furies of his core constituency, and to foment chaos. The American people are confused and benumbed by a flood of fake news and misinformation. Reading in Zweig’s memoir how, during the years of Hitler’s rise to power, many well-meaning people “could not or did not wish to perceive that a new technique of conscious cynical amorality was at work,” it’s difficult not to think of our own present predicament. Last week, as Trump signed a drastic immigration ban that led to an outcry across the country and the world, then sought to mitigate those protests by small palliative measures and denials, I thought of one other crucial technique that Zweig identified in Hitler and his ministers: they introduced their most extreme measures gradually—strategically—in order to gauge how each new outrage was received. “Only a single pill at a time and then a moment of waiting to observe the effect of its strength, to see whether the world conscience would still digest the dose,” Zweig wrote. “The doses became progressively stronger until all Europe finally perished from them.”